Ritter urges preparedness

Friday

Jan 11, 2013 at 1:00 PM

Lynn Horner, on Thursday night at The Barista, introduced Rick Ritter, a speaker with great conviction and enthusiasm. Ritter, who recently held a drive-in clinic for flu shots at the Arkansas Valley Fairgrounds, is the director of the Otero County Health Department and a great believer in preparedness.

Bette McFarren

Lynn Horner, on Thursday night at The Barista, introduced Rick Ritter, a speaker with great conviction and enthusiasm. Ritter, who recently held a drive-in clinic for flu shots at the Arkansas Valley Fairgrounds, is the director of the Otero County Health Department and a great believer in preparedness.

He held the rapt attention of his Community Conversations audience with instances of extreme situations that have occurred and may occur in the future in Otero and Crowley Counties. Among the occurrences he mentioned were the major blizzards that have occurred here, the floods in North La Junta and the fire prompting the evacuation of Ordway. He also mentioned the tornado in Holly, not too far away.

He reiterates, “It is not a question of if these circumstances occur, it is a question of when.”

His own horror story occurred in La Junta’s last blizzard. His wife went into labor. He couldn’t get his own car out of the garage and the emergency crew at the police station told him there was no way anyone could get to his house. He sent the children downstairs with instructions not to bother their mother in any way whatsoever. When he saw a front loader on his street, he waved him down and the man made him a path out. When he could get to 10th Street, he was relieved. But, of course, the labor pains went away and the baby didn’t come until the next week.

Preparedness consists of three steps. First, prepare your plans. What are the necessities? The group came up with water, food and shelter (clothing and a roof).

A person cannot have too much water stored, Ritter said. He suggests keeping a supply of bottled water and rotating it.

“Expired water would still work to wash your hands,” said Ritter. So even if you slip up on the expiration dates on the bottles, you are better off than if you had not stored water.

Canned goods with liquids are another good item to have on hand. Blankets and warm coats are a necessity in winter, when your forced air furnace would not operate if there were a power outage.

In the case of tornadoes, which he considers the most likely scenario to happen here, prepare a place in the basement or lowest level of your home. Don’t forget your neighbors, who may not have a basement area or may not be as able bodied as you.

Cutting off utilities is necessary in a tornado. Many of the audience did not know where their cutoffs are for electricity, water and gas. Ritter reminded them that power lines encountering water is potentially explosive, raising the possibility of setting off the gas. He offered to help persons living alone to find these cutoffs, if they do not have someone to help them find these cutoffs. Horner also offered to help. Ritter cautioned that relighting the water heater might also be a problem after the situation is over.